You read about it all of the time. A little old lady without any means buys a digital camera, a computer, and becomes a millionaire on eBay almost overnight. Winning the lottery should be this easy! Reality is, most of these stories are exactly that: they are stories. Usually you read them as part of an advertisement for some product or book that will help you get rich on eBay. Untruths like these get more and more people jumping into eBay when perhaps this is not what they should be doing. When building any business, you need to have available money, time and the desire to build a business. One of the disadvantages of working from home on eBay is that you can lose money if you are not careful.
Lose money on eBay, you never hear about that! You are right. There are few articles on how I went bust on eBay. There should be more. The fact is that you can easily lose money on eBay if you are not careful. Let’s start with fees. When you list something for sale on eBay you have to pay a listing fee. Then there are other upgrades as well. Gallery is now free however; it used to be an added charge. You listing fee depends on how much your starting price is. Then there is the final value fee. This is a percentage eBay charges you when you sell your item. If your item did not sell, then you can relist it once for free, then you have to pay. This starts to add up after a while. Do you use PayPal, this can add expenses too. How about an eBay store? This has a monthly fee associated with it. Shipping the item may cost you more than you think. In addition to the actual fee for shipping, the cost of the packing materials and the cost of gas (if you take it to the shipper) can add up as well. Then there is the cost of your inventory. If you are not careful you can lose money quickly. These costs can sneak up on you if you are not careful. Losing money is the biggest disadvantage to working from home on eBay.
Another problem is locating products to sell on eBay. You have to be careful when researching wholesalers online. Many will say that they are eBay certified. The truth is eBay does not certify wholesalers. Be careful of drop ship scams and other scams that offer you an eBay turn key business for a yearly fee. You are better off finding the items yourself. If you are going to be successful on eBay you have to learn how to sell and ship your items. There is no magic solution to get this done with a click of a mouse. You must work at it. The high potential to be ripped off is another disadvantage of working at home on eBay.
Making money on eBay takes time, money and commitment. Many individuals cannot allocate the proper amount of time and energy into an online business when they have other work, family and outside commitments. Before you decide to jump on the work at home wagon, be sure you understand what you are getting into. This is another disadvantage to working at home on eBay: lack of information. Do your research before you make a decision you will regret.
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